NBAA Sends Joint Letter to Congress Urging Preservation of the BARR

Contact: Dan Hubbard, (202) 783-9360, dhubbard@nbaa.org

Washington, DC, May 13, 2011 – The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) today joined with other general aviation operator groups in a letter urging Congress to complete reauthorization legislation for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that also would maintain the current FAA Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program.

NBAA joined with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) and Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) in signing the letter which points out that together the groups “represent nearly all of the general aviation aircraft operators in the United States – including thousands who participate in the BARR program for legitimate privacy, security and competitive reasons.”

“The letter emphasizes the overwhelming importance of protecting the privacy of all citizens, preventing corporate espionage, and preserving the security of general aviation flight operations,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen.

In reconciling the differences between the House and Senate reauthorization bills, the groups urge that the final legislation include Section 817 of the House-passed FAA reauthorization measure, H.R. 658, which would preserve the BARR program. The BARR program was originally enabled by Congress in the 2000 FAA reauthorization bill (Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21stCentury) in response to advances in computer technology and the advent of for-profit commercial flight tracking services. Under the BARR program, the FAA, Department of Homeland Security, and law enforcement agencies always retain their ability to track general aviation aircraft movements, but general aviation operators are provided the ability to “opt-out” of having their real-time private movements disseminated beyond the government to unknown third parties throughout world.

The House legislative provision directs the FAA to continue the program and allow aircraft owners and operators to opt-out of having their flight information published by these flight-tracking services, and notes that the online broadcast of general aviation movements by government against citizens’ will “does not serve a public policy objective.”

A notice was published in the Federal Register in March that the FAA has tentatively decided to dramatically restrict the BARR program, effectively limiting privacy protection for general aviation operators to only those with a known and specific security threat.

“Americans have a reasonable and appropriate expectation of privacy in their personal movements regardless of the mode of transportation involved,” the letter reads. “It would set a dangerous precedent to establish a policy that movements in any type of vehicle (whether car, train or airplane) can be disseminated by the federal government to unknown third parties against a citizen’s will.”

The letter notes that the current BARR program has succeeded for more than a decade by providing a “do not track” option similar to other opt-out programs throughout government, while maintaining government’s and law enforcement’s ability to track all general aviation aircraft movements.

Read the letter in its entirety.

# # #

Founded in 1947 and based in Washington, DC, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) is the leading organization for companies that rely on general aviation aircraft to help make their businesses more efficient, productive and successful. The Association represents more than 8,000 companies and provides more than 100 products and services to the business aviation community, including the NBAA Annual Meeting & Convention, the world’s largest civil aviation trade show. Learn more about NBAA at www.nbaa.org.

Members of the media may receive NBAA Press Releases immediately via e-mail. To subscribe to the NBAA Press Release e-mail list, submit the online form at www.nbaa.org/news/pr/subscribe.